Generally, a wind turbine includes a tower, a nacelle mounted on the tower, and a rotor coupled to the nacelle. The rotor generally includes a rotatable hub and a plurality of rotor blades coupled to and extending outwardly from the hub. Each rotor blade may be spaced about the hub so as to facilitate rotating the rotor to enable kinetic energy to be converted into usable mechanical energy, which may then be transmitted to an electric generator disposed within the nacelle for the production of electrical energy. Typically, a gearbox is used to drive the electric generator in response to rotation of the rotor. For instance, the gearbox may be configured to convert a low speed, high torque input provided by the rotor to a high speed, low torque output that may drive the electric generator. In addition, the wind turbine includes a bedplate that supports the various components within the nacelle. The bedplate is the main structural member of the nacelle that reacts the loads from the rotor blades through the tower and to ground.
More specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of a wind turbine bedplate 1 according to conventional construction. As shown, the bedplate 1, at a minimum, supports the main shaft 2 and the gearbox (not shown) of the wind turbine. Thus, the bedplate 1 is designed to transfer the thrust, torque, and bending moments from the main shaft 2 and the gearbox to the tower. In addition, the bedplate 1 is designed using adequate materials and features for supporting internal wind turbine equipment and/or various bolted connections (such as the torque arms, yaw drives, etc.).
Typical wind turbine bedplates are formed via sand casting using ductile cast iron. Thus, the overall shape and design of conventional bedplates is limited by the manufacturing capabilities of the casting process. In addition, wind turbine bedplates are generally designed to handle a variety of wind loading conditions since a given wind turbine model can operate in different environments. As such, many bedplates are over-designed or under-designed depending on the wind conditions of a particular wind turbine site.
Accordingly, an improved bedplate for a wind turbine and method of manufacturing same that addresses the aforementioned issues would be welcomed in the art.